Mordicai
Mordicai is an old Darkwing Firedrake and Jason and David's father. Appearance Mordicai looks essentially like an older version of Jason's Darkwing Firedrake form. He has pitch-black scales and bright emerald eyes. He is approximately 60 feet long with a 70-foot wingspan. His long tail makes up over half of his total length and is tipped with four extremely sharp but slightly chipped silver blades. The leading edges of his wings and the fans on his head are a shining silver. His claws are sharp, as are his teeth, despite his great age. Some of his scales are cracked, but his proud stature and powerful appearance more than make up for it. Personality Mordicai is much like his oldest son- he is quiet and cautious, preferring to stop and analyze a situation rather than jump into a fight headfirst as his leader Corian tends to do. Mordicai can be reckless and impulsive at times, however, following his instincts and never admitting when he is wrong unless there is no way to escpe doing so. He is incredibly loyal and would give his life to protect his master, mate, and sons. Allies Family Jason Main Article: Jason Shaver David Main Article: David Shaver Friends Cresius Main Article: Cresius The Fyrebornes Main Article: The Fyrebornes Fighting Style Mordicai and Corian share one thing: when they do fight an enemy, they have very aggressive combat styles. Much like his leader, Mordicai will often combust his own scales to that he appears to be a meteor of blue-white fire, and then dive-bomb his foe. There are other techniques shared among the Fyrebornes- for example, one known in shorthand as Napalm Shot, which involves blasting a spurt of flame at the target, and the fire violently exploding upon impact. Powers *'Dracomancy:' Mordicai is the familiar of a dracomancer and thus has gained Cresius's powerful dracomancy. Mordicai has never used this ability as it would completely give him away to the other Fyrebornes. However, his son Jason inherited it from him. *'Control of Dark Energy:' As a Darkwing Firedrake, Mordicai has an innate ability to manipulate dark energy. While he is self-trained in this skill, he has honed it to the point that it may rival the skills of the Shadow Drakes of the Hole of Ultimate Doom. He even trains Susiron in this power. History Induction to the Fyrebornes Mordicai is not inclined to share his history, so what is known about him comes from interactions with others. He is assumed to have had a rather normal life until Corian came across him and saw how much potential the Darkwing had, poking and proding the then-young dragon into honing his skills and joining the Fyrebornes. When he did, he continued training in an ambitious attempt to be recognized by the senior members- and indeed he was, rising quickly to become the second-in-command of the Fyrebornes. Part of this was his sheer strength- but the other part was how much his personality complemented Corian's. Cresius, the Dracomancer At some point Mordicai ran into Cresius during a Fyreborne raid on Jeirno, Durasken, and the human tried to stop Mordicai from causing damage by attempting dracomancy on him. Mordicai and Cresius fought one-on-one in a hidden corner of the city, out of view from the Fyrebornes and military that was trying to fight them off. Cresius was forced to use his physical weapons against this powerful dragon, and he himself wasn't unscathed in the fight either. They matched each other blow for blow, all the while concentrating on the battle of wills as well as claw and blade, until both collapsed from exhaustion. Cresius still had some mental strength left, and went at the downed Mordicai full force. Mordicai, however, was just concentrating on staying awake, not having the energy to resist the dracomancer's pull. In fact, he almost accepted it as inevitable. Cresius proved to know what he was doing, and instead of becoming a slave Mordicai was bonded as a familiar. Mordicai vanished from the Fyrebornes for a few days after that to rest up and heal- and to learn how to hide the link from his comrades. When he returned to them, Cresius was not with him, though he kept constant contact through the familiar link. He was still slightly injured from his battle with Cresius, but the very nature of the link allowed him to heal faster. Corian noticed this and grew slightly susicious, but Mordicai passed it off as him simply being a quick healer, which Corian seemed to accept. Within the week it was as if Mordicai had not been injured in the first place. Morrigan Not much really happened over the next several decades. Mordicai grew more powerful through training and the link with Cresius, eventually to the point where Mordicai developed dracomancy through the link which only grew stronger. The Fyrebornes continued to raid Durasken. Cresius did not age- now having a familiar, he was all but ageless. The Fyrebornes lost a member due to a disagreement over how to resolve the war, and a few years later gained a new one. And all the while Mordicai and Cresius grew stronger together. About 20 years prior to the start of the first arc of CoU canon, Mordicai met a female Darkwing Firedrake- or that's what she appeared to be. Everything about her checked out except for color; her scales were a rich chocolate brown and she had clear blue eyes. Mordicai recognized that she was a shapeshifter, and decided to wait and see what she would do- he'd lost most of his distrust for humanoids by then because of Cresius, but was well aware that Durasken's military often employed shapeshifters with dragon forms as spies. She introduced herself as Morrigan, and then told Mordicai that she was not what he thought her to be. At the time he thought she meant that she wasn't a real dragon, but soon enough Cresius realized where he'd heard the name Morrigan- she was spoken of in lore as the goddess of shapeshifting. Mordicai disregarded this, even when Cresius pointed out that legend often pictured her as having rich brown hair and sapphire eyes. The two often ran into each other for the next several months and Mordicai began to suspect that Morrigan was actively seeking him out. Cresius began to encourage Mordicai to talk to her, and as tends to happen to a creature old enough to breed he started getting close to Morrigan. Eventually she revealed her true form to him- perfectly matching the depictions of the goddess Morrigan. Cresius was smug to the point that Mordicai ended up closing the link for hours at a time to avoid hearing Cresius gloating. Less than a year and a half later, Mordicai had yet another secret to keep from the Fyrebornes, but this would be problematic to keep hidden- his son Jason was born. A Problematic Occurrence Mordicai faced the problem of keeping his son a secret- a shapeshifter like his mother, but only with a human and a wolf form, no dragon form so Mordicai would be able to raise him. Morrigan didn't want Jason to grow knowing that he was half god, for fear that it would make him arrogant. Mordicai vanished from the Fyrebornes for a few days once again in order to think up a solution, and was relieved but slightly anxious when Morrigan pushed forward the idea that she would go into a city, find a shapeshifter, and task the shifter to raise Jason. She eventually settled for a shapeshifter in Jeirno, a young man who was at the time raising his own son. She gave no explanation and left as soon as the shapeshifter assured her that he would raise Jason as he was raising Ganso. This settled, Mordicai returned to the Fyrebornes(with little explanation for his absence besides dealing with personal matters) while Cresius and Morrigan stayed in his life, out of sight from the Fyrebornes. A year and a half later they had another son by the name of David. This time, however, Cresius offered to take charge of the child without revealing who he was exactly- with the promise of uniting the two brothers once Jason was old enough to take care of his younger brother(this did not actually go as planned- Cresius united the two shortly before the Cult of Ustream was created, when Jason was being guarded and raised by three different dragons). Mordicai agreed only because he would be able to keep an eye on the child through Cresius, though he happened to have the link closed at the one opportunity that he might be able to see how his oldest son had turned out(this explains why Mordicai did not recognize Jason at first when they met again- all the dragon knew about the boy was that he'd ended up somewhere in Ustream and had at least three dragons, one of which was his familiar, revealing that he had inherited his father's dracomancy). Reunited Nearly seventeen years later, Mordicai was reunited with Jason in a strange set of circumstances. Jason, along with several cultists, had travelled to Durasken to test a theory. Partway through the trip, they were attacked by an Illusionary Wyvern defending its territory against Jason's familiar Mimring, who the Wyvern saw as a rival. The cultists did manage to drive the Wyvern off, but one cultist by the name of Lord X-Giga-X would not let the conflict die. Instead, he disobeyed his leader's orders(nobody really listened to Jason anyway) and went off on his own to dracomance the Wyvern. He succeeded, but was seen by Corian himself, who rallied the Fyrebornes(Mordicai included) to strike against the dracomancer and whoever he had been travelling with. The only Fyrebornes that managed to intercept the cultists on their return trip were Corian, Mordicai, and Klinks, and after a bit of talking a conflict quickly erupted. Though considered to be incredibly powerful by the dragons of Durasken, the three were easily outmatched by the sheer power and skill of the cultists, and were outnumbered in any case. Mordicai, who even before the fight had been trying to get Corian to back off, called for a truce. Corian ignored him until he and Klinks were caught in a tight spot, and only then did he back down, saving face by telling the cultists that they were free to go, but they had better be gone by the time the three returned. Corian and Klinks flew off, however Mordicai remained- he had fought Jason and Mimring himself and recognized something on the young Shapeshifter.. He asked Jason his name, which Jason casually told him, and this revelation struck Mordicai silent for several seconds before he started prodding Jason for details- was he human? Was he a dracomancer? Where was he from? As Jason answered these questions(and began to seem uncomfortable telling these things to a dragon he'd just been fighting), Mordicai grew more and more convinced that he had just found his son. He kept this to himself, even denying it when a certain psionic vampwolf straight out said what Mordicai was thinking- Jason was his son. When denying it didn't help him, he changed the subject by telling the group he would personally escort them back to Ustream to make sure wild dragons didn't trouble them. When they arrived, Mordicai stuck around headquarters for a while(by now the Fyrebornes were used to his periodic absences). He wandered around, seemingly interested in the landscape, while in reality keeping an eye out for his sons. Eventually he came across Lord X-Giga-X and after a very brief, neutral conversation somewhat sternly told the human he should have listened to his leader- Lord X-Giga-X's actions caused a great deal of trouble for both sides. The shadowmancer seemed to completely disregard Mordicai's words and walked off, though not before Mordicai asked if any true firedrakes had been seen in the area. Lord X-Giga-X misunderstood and directed him to Draco Maxima, leaving Mordicai stunned at the fact that his former ally was residing in Ustream. Mordicai quickly went to find Draco Maxima, who seemed surprised but pleased to see his old comrade. After an amiable chat and a request from Mordicai that Draco Maxima mislead the Fyrebornes if they came to look for him, Mordicai flew off again, mentally conversing with Cresius about what the Darkwing planned to do next- stay with his sons or return to Durasken? Eventually deciding it would cause more trouble if he stayed in Ustream, Mordicai flew back to Durasken after a few days, without a word of goodbye to his sons. Trivia *Mordicai as a character was created partly as a joke when someone on the chat joked that Jase's father was the Zenith Dragon from Dragon Quest V. Category:Darkwing Firedrakes Category:Allies Category:Fyrebornes Category:Dracomancers Category:Dragons